Warning: spoilers ahead – read on at your own risk.
We’ve seen a much darker side to Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) in season seven of Game Of Thrones. Over the past six seasons, we’ve seen her play a long game, patiently waiting for a way to get to Westeros and build her armies and strength. Now, we get the sense she’s done with waiting around.
In last night’s episode, “Beyond The Wall”, Daenerys lost one of her “children” – the dragon named after her brother Viserys.
The Night King threw an ice spear that took the dragon down, while Daenerys was trying to rescue Jon Snow (Kit Harrington), Tormund (Kristofer Hivju), The Hound (Rory McCann), Jorah Mormont (Iain Glen), Gendry (Joe Dempsie) and Beric Dondarrion (Richard Dormer) from their expedition north of the wall to capture a White Walker.
“It’s a heartbreak,” Emilia Clarke told EW of the loss for her character Daenerys. “My dragon could not have died for nothing, so this is now so important. For the first time you are starting to see her defences broken.”
It will be interesting to see how Daenerys reacts to the loss. She’s made some rash decisions lately, including burning Randyll (James Faulkner) and Dickon Tarly (Tom Hopper) alive after they refused to recognise her as Queen. Is the loss of Viserys enough to turn her as mad as her father?
Fun fact: The handsome Dickon Tarley caused quite the stir when he popped up this season on Game Of Thrones. While he may have met a tragic end, if you’d like to see more of the actor Tom Hopper (and his muscly frame) you can catch him in the TV series Black Sails as the pirate Billy Bones.
“The biggest question this season for Dany is what side of the coin she’s on,” Emilia says. “The unequivocal nature in choosing to be this aggressive is something you haven’t seen before. She’s practiced patience and has this saviour like quality, but now it’s game on.”
Despite losing a Dragon, Daenrys did win finally the allegiance of Jon Snow. With their powers combined – the Night King might want to watch himself. We have a feeling next week’s finale is going to be epic.
